


The Atlantis Job

by LtLJ



Series: Retrograde Extras [6]
Category: Leverage, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Independent Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-26 12:46:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6239953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLJ/pseuds/LtLJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A client tries to use the Leverage crew to steal classified information from a top secret military organization, and Eliot's part-time job with Deep Space Telemetry comes to light.  A Retrograde story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Eliot should have known it was about to go off the rails when he heard Hardison say, "Nate, we got a problem."

Eliot grimaced in irritation. He was outside the door of the hotel suite that Hardison and Nate were searching. The corridor of the high-end hotel was empty though they knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. Sophie was in the lobby ready to delay their mark when he showed up and Parker was in the elevator foyer, wearing a t-shirt from a horticultural service and pretending to water plants. Eliot said, "What now, Hardison?" 

Nate, in the background, sounded distracted. "What?"

Hardison was worried, which was a bad sign. "This is not the right laptop. There's nothing on here about petrochemicals, fracking, oil and gas industry financials... It's all kinds of equations, like for black holes and wormholes."

Eliot swore under his breath. "Are you sure?"

Hardison got snippy. "Of course I'm sure. I can tell astrophysics from geophysics. This is the real Stephen Hawking deal. Nate, come here, I got a bad feeling about this."

Eliot had a bad feeling about it, too. Over the radio, he heard Nate cross the room and the creak as he leaned on the back of Hardison's chair. Nate said, "Yeah, I think we've been played. Nothing's right in here. The clothes in the closet, the documents. Somebody's given this guy a fake identity and I'm betting it's the military."

Sophie's outraged voice broke in. "Played? Why that little-- I knew something was wrong, there was something about his eyes--"

Parker cut in, "Are they after us, or the mark?" 

"Wait, the military? Our military?" Eliot asked. The bad feeling became a terrible feeling. _Black holes and wormholes,_ Hardison had said. _Wormholes._ Hardison had been able to find an online trail confirming what their client had claimed. Not just anybody could fool Hardison, it would take a high-end player, a military-grade operation... And that would only make sense if the target was a military-grade operation...

In the room, Hardison was saying, "What language is that? It's not Greek..."

Nate said, "Huh, no, not Greek. That emblem, that looks military."

"It's like those patches that NASA does for different missions, except I don't recognize that one. Hand me the tablet, I'll do an image search--"

Eliot pushed through the door and strode across the suite to the desk where Hardison sat with Nate leaning over his shoulder. Nate stepped back so Eliot could see. He stared at the screen, at the little emblem at the top of a page of complex equations. 

He had expected to see an SGC emblem and stared at the stylized Pegasus without comprehension. Then he realized what he was looking at. "Atlantis." He swore. "We gotta get out of here."

Nate touched his radio. "Parker, Sophie, go. We'll catch up."

Hardison pushed away from the desk, shoving to his feet. "What is it? It can't be some black ops deal, it's got to be NASA-- Oh, this dude is going down if he's tricked us into jacking with NASA-- Nobody jacks with NASA on my watch--"

"I'll tell you later, just go." Eliot grabbed Hardison's arm to shove him toward the door.

Then in the middle of the room, a white light flared like a flash bomb and in it three figures materialized. Nate stared blankly, Hardison gasped, and Eliot swore in horror. 

Two men, one woman. One heavyset guy with short brown hair, one smaller, shorter man with a fluffy halo of hair, both in suits. One petite Asian woman in glasses and a neat jacket and skirt. As if continuing a conversation they had been having, the heavyset guy was saying, "I did not come all the way across two galaxies to take you two to the Olive Garden."

The Asian woman protested, "They have chocolate martinis."

"Is not fair, Rodney," the smaller guy said in a Czech accent. "You picked the restaurant last--"

They froze, staring at Eliot, Hardison, and Nate.

Nate must be reeling from the shock, but he managed, "Uh, hello. Wrong room. We're just leaving."

Hardison gasped, "Star Trek!"

Eliot said, "It's not what it looks like." He was caught between dread and an embarrassment so acute it was physically painful. He couldn't believe he had screwed up this badly.

The two men were still gaping. The Asian woman slapped what had to be a base unit in her jacket breast pocket and snapped, "AR-3 to _Vengeance of Athos_ , emergency exit, now!"

The three people vanished in another burst of white light.

Baffled, Nate said, "That was..."

"Star Trek," Hardison repeated reverently. "That was real, that wasn't no special effect, that was the real deal--"

Eliot said, "Run!"

But as the white light filled his vision, he knew it was too late.

 

***

 

Eliot felt his ears pop as a metal-walled room materialized around them. All of them. Parker and Sophie stood a few steps away, Parker in the jeans and t-shirt of her disguise and Sophie in high heels and the kind of suit high-powered women lawyers in DC would wear. She stumbled and Parker steadied her before Nate could reach her. Nate said, "You two all right?"

Parker looked around, taking in the whole room at a glance. She said, "No. What happened?"

It was a big room, the walls rounded at top and bottom, studded with support girders, and the lights set flush with the ceiling. Eliot recognized it and winced. 

Sophie stared around, her eyes wide. "It's not real. It's a trick. We've done things almost as convincing." 

"Almost. Almost as convincing." Nate pivoted, taking in every detail. "Hardison?"

"Did your ears pop? Because my ears popped." Hardison said. Eliot couldn't tell if Hardison was scared or delighted, and he didn't think Hardison knew either. "The pressure's different. The air's different. This is a controlled, pressurized environment."

Parker said warily, "We're lighter." She bounced on her heels. 

Hardison nodded. "Gravity. The gravity's lighter. We beamed up." He reached over and caught Parker's hand, apparently unable to control a grin. "We. Beamed. Up."

Parker's brow furrowed. "Right, but who did it?" 

Sophie was aghast. She turned to Parker. "No, it can't be real. It has to be a con!"

"It's NASA," Hardison said. He looked around again, bouncing a little with excitement, still holding Parker's hand. "It's got to be NASA. Or CNSA. Maybe ISRO. Nobody else in space, at least right now."

"That we know of." Nate had zeroed in on Eliot. 

Eliot knew he wasn't reacting the way the others were, that his lack of surprise was like an alarm going off for Nate. Eliot set his jaw and answered the unspoken question, "It's not a con. It's real. We're on a ship." It was the hold of a BC304, and not a new one. From the scuffmarks on the deck and the occasional dent in the bulkheads, and the smell of the recirculated air, it was probably the old _Daedalus_.

Hardison, Parker, and Sophie turned to stare at him. Eliot winced away from the dawning realization in their expressions. 

A rumble from the bulkhead made them all flinch. A seal popped as the wall slid open to reveal a smaller room with a control console across the far wall and a viewscreen looking out into space. Eliot didn't recognize the Airmen working at the console or posted at the hatch in the other wall, but he knew the man who was standing there watching them. He felt a sinking sensation that had nothing to do with the change in pressure. _Oh, hell, no._ This was about as worse as it could get.

Hardison pointed at the viewscreen. "Space," he whispered. "We're really in space."

Eliot stepped forward and stopped when he felt the tingle on his skin that said a forcefield was in place. "General O'Neill--"

O'Neill said, "Mr. Spencer. Fancy meeting me here." He smiled genially, which Eliot knew was a very, very bad sign.

Dr. Jackson walked in from the corridor, carrying a tablet. "Jack, what are you--" He saw them and stopped in surprise. "Oh, hi, Spencer." He frowned at O'Neill. "Jack, what's going on?"

Without looking away, O'Neill said, "Daniel, go take a coffee break, I'm about to be very disappointed in Mr. Spencer."

Eliot said evenly, "General O'Neill, this is not what it looks like." He still didn't want to look at the others. He could feel the horrified astonishment and betrayal hanging in the air. 

"You knew Star Trek was real and you didn't tell us!" The words burst out of Hardison as if he couldn't contain them for another instant. "How could you-- How could you do that--" He pointed accusingly at the viewscreen. "Star. Trek. Is. Real!"

Wide-eyed, unable to suppress a grin, Parker whispered, "It's bigger on the inside."

"That's not the right one," Hardison told her, "it's Star Trek--"

Sophie grabbed his arm. "Hardison, hush!"

Nate stepped up beside Eliot. "Excuse me, question, General? How did you get us? Okay, I know how you got us, but how did you get all of us?"

"The radios," Eliot ground out. Besides being potentially life-threatening, this was embarrassing as hell. "General, I swear to you, it's not what it looked like."

O'Neill ignored all the byplay. "Then you might want to explain quick, because there's some very angry people on a very big, very heavily armed starship that are in the process of hacking through our shields so they can talk to you about it in person." 

Eliot threw a desperate look at Nate. Nate had no expression except mild curiosity, which meant he was thinking rapidly. Sophie bit her lip, clearly scrambling for a handle on the situation. Hardison looked like he was about to have an out of body experience. Parker mouthed the word "starship." Eliot turned back to O'Neill. "The Atlantis project. They're here?"

"Spencer, you know that. You were just in their hotel room, touching their stuff." O'Neill folded his arms. "I'm still waiting for an explanation, and you know how I get."

Yeah, Eliot knew. He said, "We were tricked. Our client lied to us. We had no intention of going after one of your people or taking any classified material." He added, "General, you know me and you know what I do. This is not what I do."

Hardison added with real sincerity, "We would never jack with NASA or Star Trek."

O'Neill eyed him, and his gaze flicked over Hardison and Parker, to Nate, back to Nate, then to Sophie, then back to Nate. He had obviously made Nate as the one to watch, which wasn't surprising. O'Neill said, "Okay, so say I believe you. Hypothetically. The problem is, Atlantis isn't under the SGC's jurisdiction right now."

Yeah, Eliot had been afraid of that. "I didn't think-- Why is the SGC fighting Atlantis?" He needed to know just what the hell they were getting into. What he had gotten them into. "I thought that got resolved two years ago."

"We're not fighting," Dr. Jackson said. "Exactly. It's complicated. The Trust infiltrated the IOA, things went very wrong, but we've almost got it sorted out. The UN committee is meeting this week, that's why Atlantis sent a ship."

"Atlantis is real, and it has spaceships," Sophie said. She looked helplessly at Nate. Nate said, "Yes, that's what I was wondering."

"We don't have time to tell Mr. Spencer and his new friends all about classified material." O'Neill tapped his radio. "Isn't that right, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir," a woman's voice said over the comm system. "We can't stop them, and they aren't responding to our hail. One minute and counting."

O'Neill turned back to face Eliot and grimaced. "Well, say hi for me. Good luck, and everything."

Desperately, Eliot began, "Sir, we did not know--"

Nate broke in hurriedly, "So, these people who are about to grab us are what, aliens?" 

O'Neill waved a hand. "Not really, only about half of them are aliens."

"More like one-third," Dr. Jackson corrected. "I'm sure it'll be fine. If I were you, I'd tell them you're not the Trust. Better lead with that, actually."

"If you get out of it, give us a ring," O'Neill said, as the hold dissolved in a haze of light. "Bye."

 

***

 

"So, Eliot." Nate smiled. It wasn't as bad as O'Neill's genial smile, but it was in the ball park. "Have you got something you'd like to share with the class?"

They were in a copper-walled room with strips of bronze and a blue ceiling, with padded benches. One wall was a window, looking down on some kind of multi-leveled control area, though most of what they could see was a circular ramp, with crystal and liquid columns, and copper embossed pillars. People went up or down the ramp occasionally, mostly in gray and blue or gray and red uniforms, or what could only be described as eclectic combinations of civilian clothes. 

They had been beamed to another hold, surrounded by Marines in black and gray uniforms and people in leather and knits like something out of a Mad Max movie. Everybody had been heavily armed. They had been politely searched, relieved of anything that looked like a weapon or a communications device, and brought here. Hardison and Parker had been plastered to the window ever since. They kept waving at people and sometimes the people waved back. 

Eliot rubbed at the headache between his eyes and took the plunge. "So yeah, occasionally I've done consultant work for a secret military project called the SGC."

Hardison pried himself off the window to point accusingly at him again. "You knew Star Trek was real and you didn't say anything--"

"Star Trek is not real! This is not Star Trek!" Eliot waved a hand, indicating the whole cosmos. "There is some scary stuff out there, man. These people don't have ships armed like this for the hell of it! There's...stuff out there that you don't want anything to do with."

"Are those people aliens?" Parker demanded, still stuck to the window. "The ones in the leather pants?"

"Yes," Eliot said, resigned. "They're human, but they're not from Earth."

There was a moment of silence while Sophie glared at him and Nate rubbed his eyes. Nate said finally, "SGC?"

Eliot sighed. "Stargate Command."

Hardison shook his head a little, still incredulous. "I can't believe you didn't-- Area 51?"

Eliot looked up at him. "Yeah. But mostly Cheyenne Mountain."

"The Deep Space Telemetry project?" Hardison's brow furrowed. "The people who track Santa Claus?"

"It's easy to track Santa when you have a spaceship," Parker said, still plastered to the glass, her voice muffled.

Nate nodded to himself. "The SGC. That was the general on the other--" He made a flying gesture.

Eliot nodded. "The other ship, right."

"The other spaceship," Sophie said. She shook her head a little, clearly trying to get her brain around it. "So who are these people on this spaceship? The Atlantis project?"

"It's a long story, but years ago the SGC found an alien city in another galaxy and it sent a multinational scientific expedition, with an SGC military contingent to protect them. They got cut off for three years, then they were attacked by an organization called the Trust. It was bad, real bad. There's some scary aliens in Pegasus that go after the human population, and Atlantis ended up with a bunch of civilian refugees living there with the expedition. Kids, old people." Eliot rubbed his face. He had seen some of the DV on his last assignment with the SGC, and it hadn't been pretty. "The Trust tore the base up, killed some civilians and earth military and scientists, tortured the military commander, some of the Marines, and one of the local civilian leaders. They did it while claiming to be from the SGC. O'Neill and a real SGC ship got it straightened out, mostly. But something must have happened again." 

Sophie frowned. "Right. Now, this Trust organization, what do they want? Are they aliens?" She grimaced. "I can't believe I just said that."

"No, they're from Earth." Eliot shook his head and pushed to his feet, pacing over to the far wall. "They're terrorists. They don't want Earth to cooperate with any other planets, they just want to steal any technology and bring it back here, no matter who they have to kill." He couldn't tell them about the Ancient gene, or the Asgard, or the Goa'uld, or the Wraith. It was bad enough he had to tell them this much. "Atlantis is all about cooperation between Earth and humans from other planets, so the Trust is all over them."

Nate leaned back against the wall and let out a breath. "Patterson must have been from the Trust." 

Sophie looked toward the window, worried. "Yes, obviously he was trying to use us to get to the Atlantis people who were here to meet with the UN. We have to persuade them that this was all a misunderstanding on our part."

"So how much trouble are we in?" Hardison said, shifting uncomfortably. "This is all classified super secret government tech, and we've seen it..."

Parker took her attention off the window long enough to ask, "Federal prison?"

Eliot made an impatient gesture. "Atlantis isn't under any government jurisdiction."

Nate said, "Right, but they're negotiating with the UN. So..."

"So?" Sophie lifted her brows.

"So..." Nate shrugged. "I have no idea."

A sound from the door made everybody tense, then it slid open to reveal a man in the black and gray Atlantean military uniform. There were two more Marines behind him, and two women who must be Athosian regulars, but Eliot noted they were all carrying the Wraith stunners. That was possibly a good sign. He said warily, "Stackhouse. Long time no see." Eliot had done a few gate missions with the Marine sergeant before the Atlantis expedition. They had parted as friends, but right now Stackhouse just looked pissed off.

"Spencer." Stackhouse didn't look thrilled to see him. "The message came from the _Daedalus_ that you were behind this mess and I didn't believe it."

Eliot shook his head, frustrated. "I told General O'Neill, we were tricked. This is not what we do and we sure as hell wouldn't take a job from the Trust."

"Yeah, General O'Neill sent a message." Stackhouse didn't appear convinced. "My commanding officer wants to see whoever's in charge."

Nate stood. "That would be me."

Eliot told him, "Not alone."

Nate gave him a look. "Eliot, everybody here's a little upset with you right now--"

"Including us," Hardison put in.

"--so maybe it would be better if you let me do the talking."

Possibly Nate had a point. 

 

***


	2. Chapter 2

Nate followed the sergeant up the copper and silver corridor. They were trailed by another Marine and two young women in what looked like handmade civilian clothes with a lot of leather. They all cradled large weapons that seemed to be alien rayguns. 

This situation was as weird as life was ever going to be. It was hard to get into the right mental space for a potentially dangerous negotiation when he was still half-convinced he was hallucinating, but it hadn't entirely shut down his brain.

At this point what Nate knew about the Atlantis people was that they were angry, had a starship that outclassed anything the SGC could bring to bear on it, and that at least two of them wanted to go to Olive Garden. It wasn't a lot to work with. But the most important thing he had gleaned from Eliot's story was that these people had a legitimate grievance against the Trust. 

He said, conversationally, "So, how do you get assigned to a starship in the Marine Corps?"

Stackhouse unbent enough to say, "We ask ourselves that sometimes too, sir."

One of the women said, "We are told one must be very brave, and very stupid." She spoke with a slight accent, but Nate couldn't place it.

Another Marine chuckled. "Thanks, Itasa."

Stackhouse threw a look back at them. Nate read that clearly as a "not in front of strangers" expression. All the byplay stopped immediately.

They went up a curving ramp and then to a set of big chased silver double doors. Stackhouse paused to wave his hand in front of a small blue crystal set in the wall, and the doors silently slid open.

The big room inside was round, the walls a dark textured blue with silver strips, the floor a burnished copper with a pattern that looked a little like a compass rose. There were uniformed people in the room, but Nate glanced up at movement overhead and stopped in his tracks, staring.

Floating in the air was a hologram, a huge one. At first it was all just pretty lights, but then Nate spotted Earth, and the Moon, and recognized the rest of the solar system. And if those were satellites orbiting Earth then those must be ships... Everything was labeled in little floating letters in a language with characters he couldn't read, the same language he had seen briefly on the laptop. He pointed. "That one, that's the space station, isn't it?"

"The ISS." One of the uniformed men had stepped up silently beside him. 

The whole hologram rotated and flowed out, and the moving dot of the space station suddenly got larger until Nate could see every detail, with the strange language scrolling around it, obviously listing all sorts of information. There were ghostly images superimposed on it, like people moving around inside. Whoa, those were people moving around inside. "The astronauts," Nate said, startled.

The uniformed man beside him said, "Yeah, we try not to do it too often. They can't see us, so it feels creepy."

"So they don't know--" Nate made a gesture, taking in the ship around him.

"No, nobody can see us. The ship has a cloak. The SGC ship is cloaked, too, but we know where it is." The hologram spun and the ISS flowed away, to be replaced by what was obviously a spaceship. It was box-like, with one big oblong and two oblong "wings" on either side. He could see what were clearly gun emplacements along the sides and in various other places. As an afterthought, the ISS reappeared, superimposed next to it so Nate could see the SGC ship was much larger.

Hardison was going to love this. "Like Star Trek," Nate said. He managed to tear his eyes off the hologram to the man standing next to him. 

He wore a black and gray uniform, but like the Marines, the only insignia was a shoulder patch with the Pegasus emblem. He was lean and tall, dark-haired, sharp-featured, and would have looked too young to be the commanding officer, except that he looked tired. He said, "Exactly like Star Trek."

The difference between the SGC ship's utilitarian banged-up metal and these airy copper and blue rooms hadn't been lost on Nate. "So what does this ship look like?"

And the hologram dissolved into an image of another spaceship. No, a starship. An alien starship. Nate gasped.

The shape was like a dozen glittering spires of ice wrapped up into something that looked like an arrow. It made Nate think of fractals and photos of ice comets and close-ups of snowflakes in increasingly complex detail. The SGC ship was still next to it for scale, and this thing was huge, dwarfing the other ship like a floating Empire State Building. Nate said, "That's amazing." 

"You are not of the Trust," a woman said.

Nate turned to find a lovely woman standing with them. She was short, with reddish-brown hair, and wearing something drapey in softly dyed fabrics. She had the same faint accent as Itasa, and she was very pregnant. "Hi," Nate said blankly, trying to get his thoughts together. "No, I'm not from the Trust. How did you know that?"

She smiled a little. "They are not the sort of people who could convincingly feign delight."

Nate noted that there were three more Marines in the room, and two more of the women soldiers in civilian clothes. One was an identical twin to Itasa, from the squad who had escorted him from his cell. That, and the pregnancy, gave the group a family look he hadn't expected. _Refugees,_ Eliot had said. _Kids and old people._ He stuck out his hand. "Nathan Ford."

The man hesitated for a moment, then shook his hand. "Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. This is Teyla Emmagan."

Nate nodded to her. "I'm sorry about the laptop, and scaring your people in the hotel. Eliot's telling the truth, it was a mistake on our part."

Emmagan lifted a brow, not quite skeptical but not quite believing him, either. Sheppard was harder to read. He turned to look at Stackhouse, standing near the doors. Sheppard said, "Yeah. About that."

It was said in a lazy drawl, but Stackhouse appeared to understand perfectly. "Yes, sir. The tech should have checked the room to make sure no one else was in there before they beamed down. It was sloppy, and somebody's going to be cleaning toilets all the way home."

Nate felt the situation had just deescalated. He knew that a guy who thought spying on astronauts was creepy, punished subordinates by making them clean bathrooms, and whose top advisor appeared to be about a week from giving birth, was not the kind of guy to shake hands with somebody he was planning to murder. 

Sheppard turned back to Nate. "Apparently General O'Neill has a file on you. He said you're pro bono detectives, or something?"

"Or something," Nate admitted, watching Sheppard but keeping part of his attention on Emmagan. "I think if General O'Neill knows that much, he knows a lot more than that." O'Neill had clearly been keeping tabs on Eliot.

"He said you're wanted by the FBI and Interpol. But, you know, so are we right now." Sheppard folded his arms. "Eliot Spencer was apparently an SGC consultant?"

"Yes, I found that out about thirty seconds before you did." Nate shrugged. "Well, it's embarrassing. We help people who find themselves up against powerful corporations or individuals. Our client was very convincing. O'Neill seemed to think he was from this Trust organization."

"Yeah, it's likely." Sheppard glanced at Emmagan, whose expression was grim. He said, "Did your client tell you where that hotel room was, or did you find it?"

"We located it. But he had the name the room was registered in. I'm assuming that's a cover supplied by the SGC."

Emmagan grimaced, and said to Sheppard, "They have an agent within the SGC." She added with emphasis, "Again."

"Not necessarily," Sheppard said. He looked pointedly at the opposite wall. "Apparently somebody's been sloppy." 

The door in that wall slid open and a man charged in. It was the guy from the hotel room, the one who wasn't an Olive Garden fan. He stormed up to Sheppard and demanded, "Oh, so this is my fault now?" None of the watchful Marines or the women shot him or even tensed, so Nate assumed this was normal.

Sheppard didn't react either. He said, "If you think I'm pissed because you left a laptop unsecured in a hotel room, then you'd be right."

"Oh, please. There was nothing on there the Trust could use. I never take laptops into the field with any high security information." He looked at Nate and his lip curled. "I'm Dr. Rodney McKay, one of your victims."

"Sorry about that," Nate said, and had to add, "We didn't mean to interrupt your trip to the Olive Garden."

McKay's glare turned acid. Emmagan frowned and looked inquiringly at Sheppard. He told her, "It's a restaurant. It's not as nice as it sounds." 

At her expression of understanding, Nate realized, _this woman is not from Earth._ And if she wasn't, Itasa and the other women in the room weren't either. He should have realized that earlier, but the thought had been too big and strange to understand. Nate didn't have time to be stunned by that, he would have to deal with it later.

"Anyway," McKay said loudly. "No one was supposed to know we were on the planet, let alone what hotel we were using as a beam out point. It was probably Metford, that bastard. He's always been a trust sympathizer."

That was when Nate realized why the room had looked staged. No one was staying in it, it was a private spot where the Atlantis people could beam back and forth to their ship without anybody noticing. It was a nice cover. Nate said, "I can send you our material on Patterson, the man who presented himself as a client, and how we traced Dr. McKay here." He glanced up at the hologram again. It was back to the solar system, rotating slowly. "Does this ship have an email address?"

"We can arrange that." Sheppard and Emmagan exchanged a thoughtful look. Sheppard added, "In case there was any doubt, as soon as we get that info, we'll send you back to earth."

Nate made a snap decision. They knew his story, but he knew he hadn't heard a tenth of theirs yet. And he wanted to. "Is there any way-- Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot here, but my people -- particularly Hardison, the one who keeps talking about Star Trek -- would love to see just a little bit of the ship. Not the classified parts, but things like this, for example--" He waved a hand at the hologram.

"No!" McKay snapped. "Of course not!"

Emmagan looked at Sheppard. He said, "Give us a minute to talk it over."

 

***

 

Stackhouse, Yamato, and the twins stepped out into the corridor with Nathan Ford, and John sighed. He didn't want to say "here we go again" but that was sure what it looked like.

Rodney said bitterly, "Here we go again."

Teyla's expression was grim. "I wish Dr. Weir had come with us. Her talents at negotiating with these Earth organizations far outweighs ours, but it did seem better at the time for her to remain in command on Atlantis with Major Lorne."

"Yeah." John rubbed his face. He had gotten little sleep since they had found out they were in the shit with the IOA again, and this hitch with the Trust was the last thing they needed. "We could use Elizabeth on this."

Since they had gotten the _Vengeance of Athos_ activated, their Wraith killing program had accelerated drastically. Finding and destroying the Wraith cloning facility had taken up a lot of time and effort, plus their patrols throughout the Pegasus coalition eliminating stray hive ships. The coalition worlds were supplying Atlantis with food through the trade network, but they had fallen way behind on the exploring part of their mission. They still needed supplies from Earth, and more new personnel.

Part of the problem was the IOA scuppering the SGC's attempt to send them more military over the past couple of years. O'Neill had only wanted to send them carefully vetted personnel who had had at least two years of gate team experience, which was how the expedition's original military contingent had been chosen. It was hard enough to get an assignment at the SGC, and O'Neill only wanted the best of the best to go to Atlantis. But O'Neill's idea of the best and the IOA's idea of the best hadn't meshed well. They had received a few key people, like Lieutenant Cadman, Barroso, Largent, Mehra, and Griffin. All good choices, but not nearly enough of them. He asked Teyla, "How are you doing?"

Teyla narrowed her eyes at him. "When the water of my womb breaks, you will be the first to know." She relented and added, "Though I do appreciate the lesser gravity."

The ship's hyperactive ATA had picked up on John's anxiety about Teyla and had been following her around with a reduced gravity bubble. Considering the way their luck usually ran, John just didn't want to have to deliver a baby while trapped in a transporter. Echoing that thought, Rodney told her, "If you have the baby without Carson here, he's going to be upset." 

Teyla glared at him. John dragged them back to the subject and said, "So do we give them the tour?"

Rodney threw his hands in the air. "Why not! All they were doing was lying in wait in my hotel room--"

John hadn't seen it that way. "Rodney, I talked to Miko and Radek. Ford's group was running for the door. If they'd wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. We wouldn't have got them at all if the SGC hadn't been alerted by our unscheduled beam out."

Teyla nodded slowly, thinking it over. "And O'Neill is inclined to believe them, and I am inclined to accept his word."

Rodney was unimpressed. "Teyla just trusts O'Neill because he saved her from being shoved out an airlock by those Trust agents once."

Teyla rolled her eyes at him. John said grimly, "I know, Rodney, I was supposed to be the next one out the airlock."

Rodney deflated a little. "Oh, right. I wasn't there so I've forgotten the details." Apparently taking in their expressions, he said, "You two have been almost killed so many times, with and without Ronon, that if I obsessed about all of it I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning!" He glared. "I have to prioritize."

He had a point, John conceded. Teyla said pointedly, "Nevertheless. Do we extend our hospitality?"

John had already made that decision. He wanted to find out a little bit more, make sure his instincts were accurate. He shrugged. "Sure."

 

***


	3. Chapter 3

The next time the door slid open, it was Nate. He rubbed his hands together briskly and said, "Who wants to go on a tour?"

Eliot rubbed his eyes to hide his relief. He had thought Nate would be able to work things out, but everybody who had mentioned Atlantis in the SGC for the past couple of years had talked about nothing besides how weird the expedition had become and how tricky and dangerous it was dealing with them. They all admitted that General O'Neill and SG-1 seemed to swan in and out of the place with no problems, but that was SG-1. Nobody had mentioned that considering how weird, tricky, and dangerous O'Neill was, he was probably right at home, but Eliot had felt that sentiment in the air. Eliot had reserved judgment; if there was anybody who knew that sometimes circumstances justified paranoia, it was him.

"Me!" Parker elbowed Hardison in the gut to be first out the doorway. Eliot shoved to his feet and followed Sophie out. 

Outside the holding cell was a big foyer with one wall open to the chamber below and two walkways curving off into opposite directions. With the copper floors and blue walls and silver arching support braces, it was hard to believe they were in a spaceship. Stackhouse waited with three Marines and two Athosian regulars, still carrying Wraith stunners, but with them was Colonel Sheppard and a very pregnant woman who had to be Teyla Emmagan. She was one of the key Athosian leaders and considered every bit as dangerous as Sheppard, Bates, or any of the others. Eliot had only seen photos, and she was prettier in person. So was Sheppard, come to think of it. 

Parker pointed at Emmagan's tummy. "Is that an alien baby?"

Teyla lifted a brow, but smiled a little. "From your perspective, I suppose it is."

Parker said, "Cool," and bounced off to look over the railing at the bigger room below.

Sophie stepped in, smiling. "Hello, I'm Sophie Devereaux, and that was Parker, and this is Alec Hardison." She put her hand on Hardison's shoulder, and he smiled nervously and waved a little. "And I believe you may know Eliot Spencer. Thank you so much for letting us look at your spaceship, what we've seen so far is lovely." It could have been awkward, but Sophie managed to make it seem liked she was meeting Emmagan at a garden party.

Eliot didn't know if Sophie had picked up on it but this was exactly the right approach to take with an Athosian. Eliot knew none of the Atlanteans were taken in by it, and it seemed to make Sheppard even more wary. But Emmagan responded by formally introducing everybody on the Atlantean side, including the Marines and the Athosian regulars, who were called Itasa and Deona. 

"Are we really gonna get a tour?" Hardison said, and Eliot could see he was about to break out into a sweat from the effort of containing his excitement. "Because-- if y'all busy, we totally understand. But--"

Emmagan said graciously, "We would be happy to give you a tour," and led the way along the curving walkway.

One side of it opened to the multi-leveled spiral area. Science and tech team members looked up at them occasionally, curious and a little wary. Everybody had clearly heard about the visitors. Sophie was chatting with Emmagan and asking questions, Nate trailing behind them. Emmagan seemed bemused, but Eliot thought she liked Sophie. It was hard not to like Sophie when she was being charming, but Eliot could tell Sophie wasn't playing a role at the moment. This was genuine Sophie, as thrilled in her own way as Hardison and Parker were to be on a real starship. Parker kept bouncing from one side of the walkway to the other to see everything, Hardison following her and trying to geek out quietly.

Eliot saw his opportunity and stopped. "Colonel Sheppard, can I talk to you in private for a minute?"

Sheppard flicked an opaque look at Nate, but said, "Sure."

Eliot followed him back a few paces, ignoring the glare Hardison was directing after him. The Marines stayed with Emmagan and the others, but Itasa and Deona stuck with Sheppard. Both were very professional and obviously hyperaware, and their stances indicated a style of fighting Eliot wasn't familiar with. They hung back and were far enough apart that if Eliot went for either one or Sheppard, they could drop him with the stunners. Eliot approved of the precaution. 

Sheppard stopped when they were out of earshot and said, "What is it?"

Eliot hadn't had clearance to read the reports, and had got the same basic intel on Atlantis as everybody else in the SGC with his clearance level. Everything he had heard about Sheppard was contradictory or probably exaggerated; rumors said that he had killed his commanding officer and that oversensitivity to the ATA had driven him insane. But the one thing Eliot knew for certain was that Jack O'Neill of all people had gone balls to the wall to get Sheppard promoted and to keep him in Atlantis. And he could see for himself that Stackhouse, the other Marines, and the Athosians radiated an easy confidence and respect for him as a commander. Eliot said, "Do me a favor."

Sheppard eyed him. In a lot of ways his whole persona was as deceptive as Nate's, and he didn't move like anyone who had been trained by the SGC. He had hints in his stance of that unfamiliar Athosian fighting style, combined with something else Eliot couldn't pinpoint, and the way he flicked a look down the walkway to make sure the Marines were watching the others told Eliot that Sheppard had made Parker as a potential threat. He said, "That depends. If you want me to talk to O'Neill about your status that's a big no."

Eliot grimaced. "Not that." He jerked his head toward the others, where Hardison and Parker had gotten distracted by a set of copper and crystal pillars filled with bubbling liquid and Sophie and Nate were pretending not to watch Eliot. He angled his body so they wouldn't be able to read his lips. "Don't tell them about the Wraith. Or the Goa'uld, any of that stuff. I just don't want them to know...what it's like out there. What I've been doing."

Sheppard didn't react in any way Eliot could read, but after a moment he said, "We can do that."

Eliot nodded, and went back to the others. 

Parker was leaning out over the railing. "Who are those kids? Are they aliens?"

On the walkway below this one, a group of kids played on the deck. Two Athosians and two science team members in the khaki and white Atlantis medical uniforms hung out nearby, clearly keeping an eye on the kids while talking among themselves. The youngest were around ten or eleven, the oldest were teenagers, who had planted themselves on some benches and were playing games or watching videos on tablets. They were dressed in what looked like clothes from at least two or three different cultures, augmented with bits and pieces from Atlantean uniforms. Refugees, Eliot figured, but he couldn't guess what they were doing on the ship.

Emmagan glanced at Sheppard, apparently got a signal that Eliot couldn't see, and answered Parker, "The...force we are fighting in Pegasus takes captives from the human population and eventually kills them. As we were leaving our galaxy, we encountered two of their ships, attempting to flee. This craft was design specifically to deal with them. We were able to penetrate their shields, isolate the human life signs, and beam the captives aboard. Then we destroyed the ships."

Sheppard looked at Eliot. He said, "Intermittent pulse array. Peels them like onions."

It took Eliot effort to control his expression. Atlantis was beating the Wraith. That was huge. No wonder O'Neill was over there on the _Daedalus_ sitting guard duty on this ship. Quietly, he said to Sheppard, "They don't usually take the kids, do they?"

"They were moving them," Sheppard answered. "Trying to run, set up somewhere else. That's what we have to look out for now."

Sophie had heard them, and her expression was worried. Eliot gave her a reassuring smile he didn't think she bought for an instant.

Emmagan added, "We were some distance from the planets where these people had been taken, and had not time to go so far off course. We will return them to their homes on our way back to Atlantis." She smiled politely but firmly. "Let us move on."

As they continued up the corridor, Sophie asked Emmagan, "So what exactly is the disagreement with Eliot's organization, the SGC?"

"Ex-organization," Eliot muttered. One of the most important rules in the SGC was what happens under the mountain, stays under the mountain, and O'Neill thought Eliot had broken that rule. Eliot figured at the very least that he wasn't going to get invited to go on any more gate team missions. O'Neill probably wouldn't bring him up on charges; knowing O'Neill, if he was seriously pissed off, whatever happened would be a lot more subtle.

"The disagreement is over this ship," Emmagan said, her tone still even but managing to convey just how angry she actually was about it.

Nate clearly wasn't surprised. "What, they want to take it away?"

"The IOA does," Sheppard said, "but it doesn't belong to us."

Emmagan explained, "It is a prototype constructed by the people we call the Ancestors, and the facility that was building it was on the planet of one of our allies. It was destroyed centuries ago and its existence was forgotten. The Tasiben uncovered it by accident and summoned us. When we realized that it could be activated, they asked us to be the guardians of it, and to use it to defend the galaxy from our enemies."

Sheppard said, "We've basically been contracted by a coalition of local governments. They pay us in toba root and goats."

Nate nodded. "Toba root?"

Sheppard winced. "It's a staple food that tastes like rotting turnips."

Emmagan said defensively, "It is very nutritious."

"But the IOA wants us to turn the ship over to them. For some reason, they don't trust us with it." Sheppard's tone was wry. 

"We are trying to convince them to agree to the coalition's wishes, through these meetings with the UN." Emmagan sounded grim, as if she didn't like their chances.

Brow furrowed, Sophie looked from Emmagan to Sheppard. "If they don't agree?"

Sheppard shrugged. "We'll leave. They can't stop us."

Nate didn't react, but Eliot could tell he wasn't fooled by the casual attitude. "But you can't come back."

"Yeah. That's a problem," Sheppard admitted. The expression when Emmagan looked at Sheppard made Eliot look away. He knew the Athosians understood what it was like to lose a world. Firmly changing the subject, Sheppard added, "Who wants to see a giant hologram?"

"Me!" Parker grabbed Hardison's hand and dragged him down the corridor after Stackhouse. 

Sheppard and Emmagan got a little ahead of them, and Sophie whispered to Nate, "I can't believe this is real. I can't believe we're really doing this."

"You know what's even weirder?" Nate said, watching Sheppard's back. "Settle a bet, Eliot. Is Sheppard controlling this ship with his mind?"

Sophie frowned. "Are you serious?"

Nate said, "Everybody else has to wave a hand in front of the crystals to get the doors to open. Sheppard doesn't. And there were no controls in the hologram room."

Eliot grimaced, reluctant to answer. But of all the alien things he didn't want to tell them about, the ATA at least wasn't horrible. "Probably. That's how the Ancient technology works. It responds to some people, like Sheppard and O'Neill, some of the other expedition members. It's a genetic thing. If you don't have it, the tech won't work for you. There's a serum that can give you the ability, but it doesn't work for most people, and it doesn't work on some of the more advanced tech. Probably most of the tech on this ship."

Nate's expression didn't change. "The Trust doesn't have this genetic thing."

"No, they don't." Eliot met Nate's gaze. 

Sophie muttered, "So they don't just want this ship, they want people. Sheppard and the others." She looked at Nate. "We can't let that happen."

It sounded mild, unless you knew that Sophie meant that literally and was telling Nate she expected to be part of not letting it happen. And she knew as well as Eliot did that Nate was having a rage blackout. 

Nate was absolutely fucking furious that they had not only been played, but that somebody had tried to use them against people at a disadvantage. And the Trust hadn't been interested in stealing classified material; they had been looking for the point the Atlanteans were using to beam to and from their ship, intending to take prisoners. Nate blinked, back in control, and said, deceptively casual, "No, we can't."

Sheppard and Emmagan took them to an Ancient hologram room where Eliot got to see Hardison almost lose his mind. 

 

***

 

John had ended up giving a guided tour of the solar system. Once everybody had looked at Jupiter's perpetual storms and Saturn's rings, and Spencer had provoked an argument with Hardison about Pluto apparently for the sole purpose of watching Hardison get mad, John took them forward into the observation area above the bridge. 

It was made up of multiple terraces, with the observation area at the top, looking down on the navigation suite below. The view screen in the curving wall was like the ones in the jumpers, a holographic display that hovered in the air. Unlike the jumper's, this display was a good thirty feet high and it was currently showing the curve of the Earth. Even without the command chair interface, it was like flying an Omnimax theater. There was also no transparent port behind the screen, since the bridge was tucked into the interior of the ship, behind the forward weapons array. Everything was in standby at the moment, with only Chuck, Laroque, and Salazar on duty on the consoles. 

Rodney was waiting in the observation area with Radek and Miko. As they walked in, he was pointing dramatically at Earth. "I'm just saying that when Italy is right there it makes even less sense to--"

John cleared his throat pointedly. Rodney lifted his chin to give their guests an icy stare and said, "So then. You have some material to deliver to us? The results of your stalking me?"

"Right." Ford glanced at Hardison. "Give them everything Patterson gave us, and everything you put together about Dr. McKay's alias."

Hardison said, "If I can have my tablet, I can get it for you right now. Where do you want me to send it?"

John signaled Ramirez, who was waiting with the tablet. He stepped forward and handed it to Hardison. John said, "Not through the SGC. Not if there's a mole there."

"We can transfer it directly. I've got an interface," Rodney said it darkly, like it was a threat.

John caught Radek's eye, and Radek turned to Hardison. "I am Dr. Radek Zelenka, this is Dr. Miko Kusanagi. It would be better if you let me access and transfer the material."

Hardison was clearly reluctant. "Uh, it's my personal tablet, and you all know how that goes. My credit card is on here, all my personal--"

"If you permit this," Radek said, "I let you sit at navigation console and plot a course through Milky Way to Pegasus galaxy. Dr. Kusanagi will assist you."

Miko smiled. "It's difficult, but the tactile holographic interface is very interesting to use. Like the Matrix."

Hardison froze, his mouth open. "Nate," he managed finally, in a strangled voice.

Ford sighed and stared at the ceiling. "It's fine, go ahead."

Rodney glared at Radek. "This is why everyone thinks you're the nice one."

"I am the nice one, Rodney," Radek said complacently.

As Hardison followed Radek and Miko down to the lower control area, Ford said to John, "That was smooth."

John said, "Radek's a charmer."

Ford was still watching him. "You could have taken it."

Yeah, but there was no reason to spoil the good time Hardison had obviously been having. And they had all the enemies on Earth they needed, there was no need to make any more. "We try not to take other people's stuff, if we can avoid it."

Devereaux turned to Teyla again. "I don't think I understand. If this ship is needed in the other galaxy to save lives, what objection can this IOA committee have?"

Teyla pressed her lips together. "They do not trust us. They never have. And they wish to use this ship to defend this galaxy, though the SGC has powerful allies who have helped them eliminate many threats."

Ford said, "And you suspect the Trust is manipulating the situation on Earth."

"Yeah." John had expected that, after what had happened with the IOA after Dr. Nguyen had retired, but he hadn't expected how much damage the Trust had been able to do to Atlantis' reputation. "And that was before you guys showed up." 

Rodney was at the railing, looking down on the navigation suite, watching Radek and Hardison suspiciously. He said sourly, "They keep using the word 'pirates.'"

"Space pirates," Parker said with a great deal of satisfaction. "What's the ship's name?"

John told her, " _Vengeance of Athos_."

Parker nodded. "That's a pirate ship name." 

John said, "That's what I told them." If they were going to go with that, they might as well go all the way and call it the _Millennium Falcon_ or _The Black Pearl_. 

Teyla gave John the brows-lowered 'you Earth people think you're hilarious' look. She said, "It is a perfectly acceptable name."

Devereaux said, "Parker, why don't you go help Hardison find the other galaxy?"

 

***

 

Eliot ended up down on the lower level with Parker, watching her and Hardison get an intergalactic navigation lesson. 

With an expression of intense concentration, Hardison sat at the console between Kusanagi and Parker, typing on the keyboard of a laptop that had been attached to the alien control board. A miniature 3D hologram of a starfield with lines and figures superimposed on and inside it hovered in the air. Kusanagi watched Parker reach inside it to touch one of the rotating points, and corrected, "No, not that one, that's a pulsar. Yes, like that."

Finally Hardison sat back and said, "That was incredible. I can't even tell you."

"You did very well," Kusanagi said. "Radek, did you see?"

"You want job?" Zelenka asked Hardison. "Pay is terrible, food is terrible, Rodney is terrible. There is shooting and death. But on the bright side, you get..." He waved a hand. "This."

Hardison stared at him with the expression of a man who was seriously tempted. Eliot grabbed his arm and dragged him up out of the chair. "No. No. You don't want a job. No. No. Man, come on!"

Parker jumped up to follow them and pointed at Itasa. "How do I get that job?"

"No, Parker!"

As Eliot dragged Hardison back up to the observation level, Sheppard apparently took pity on Eliot and said, "We're not hiring right now. And this has been fun, but we've got work to do. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."

Kusanagi followed them up. "Just let us know where you would like to be transported to," she said.

"Italy," Parker suggested. She looked hopefully at Nate. "Italy?"

"How about the street behind the hotel," Nate said. "And one other thing." He eased forward and set the bar's business card down on the edge of the nearest console. "If you ever need any help -- on Earth -- with this Trust organization, you know who to call."

 

***

 

When the white light dissipated, they were standing in the service alley behind the hotel, a dumpster blocking them from the view of the cross street. It was late afternoon, after most of the housekeeping staff would have left for the day, and the area was temporarily deserted. Eliot breathed out in relief. 

Hardison turned to him and said, "Okay, I am still pissed at you, don't think for a second that I'm not, but-- That was the best. Man, that was the best I ever--" Hardison went in for a hug. In light of everything, Eliot allowed himself to hug back for three seconds longer than usual.

Parker grinned and thumped Eliot on the back. "It was! I want to go again."

"It's not a damn amusement park," Eliot grumbled, gratified.

Sophie was watching Nate. She smiled. "You're not going to let this go, are you."

"No." Nate had that look. "We're going to steal the Trust."

 

**end**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the endgame I had in mind for the Retrograde series back when I first wrote it, though I hadn't thought of adding the Leverage gang until just recently. I don't know if I'll have time to do any more stories for a while, but I just had to write this one.


End file.
